US sends powerful message to Iran, Russia in latest military drills with Syrian rebels

BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:40 A.M.) – The U.S. and their rebel allies recently conducted an eight-day long military exercise in the Tanf region of southern Syria this week.

Speaking to Reuters this week, the commander of the US-backed Maghawir Al-Thawra group, Muhannad Al-Talaa, said that the military exercise included live-fire air and ground assaults that included hundreds of U.S. and rebel rebel personnel.

“These exercises have a big importance and have beefed up the defenses of the area and raised the combat capabilities and morale and that of civilians in the area,” Talaa told Reuters by phone from Tanf.

Furthermore, the U.S. military drills sent a powerful message to the Russian and Iranian forces that have surrounded this large desert area near the Iraqi border.

A U.S. military spokesman said the exercises were a show of force and that the Pentagon had notified Moscow through “deconfliction” channels to prevent “miscommunication or escalate tension”.

“The exercise was conducted to reinforce our capabilities and ensure we are ready to respond to any threat to our forces within our area of operations’” Colonel Sean Ryan told Reuters in an email response.

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